The World Meteorological Organization said Wednesday that the oceans reached their hottest and most acidic levels on record last year.
Four primary measures of climate change hit record highs in 2021, according to a broader annual report.
The Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization said in a statement that the climate is changing before our eyes.
Climate change has hit the oceans hard. The report found that the ocean experienced at least one marine heatwave last year.
Critical marine environments such as coral reefs, seagrass meadows and kelp forests are at risk of collapse due to heat extremes. A drop in global fish populations has been caused by rapid ocean warming.
The WMO has confirmed that the oceans have reached the lowest point in at least 26,000 years. The capacity to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere declines as oceans grow more acidic.
Sea levels hit a record high last year after rising an average of 4.5mm every year over the last decade. The rate doubled between 1993 and 2002 due to the loss of ice mass from melting ice sheets. Hundreds of millions of coastal dwellers are at risk of more intense and frequent storms and floods because of the sea level rise.
Unless means to remove carbon from the atmosphere are invented, sea level rise, ocean heat and acidification will continue for hundreds of years.
The world has warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and is set to rise 2.4 degrees Celsius by the year 2200. The last seven years have been the warmest on record.
The UN Secretary-General called for urgent action to tackle climate disruption in a statement.
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